David Gilmour gained international fame for his incisive, atmospheric guitar work and vocals with Pink Floyd, and eventually became the
leader of the group during their late period as well as pursuing a successful solo career and working with some of the most respected names
in British rock.

Gilmour was born in Cambridge, England on March 6, 1946; his parents were both involved in education -- his father was a lecturer in
Zoology at Cambridge University and his mother was a teacher -- and as a schoolboy, Gilmour struck up a friendship with a boy who
attended the same grade s ...read more

David Gilmour gained international fame for his incisive, atmospheric guitar work and vocals with Pink Floyd, and eventually became the
leader of the group during their late period as well as pursuing a successful solo career and working with some of the most respected names
in British rock.

Gilmour was born in Cambridge, England on March 6, 1946; his parents were both involved in education -- his father was a lecturer in
Zoology at Cambridge University and his mother was a teacher -- and as a schoolboy, Gilmour struck up a friendship with a boy who
attended the same grade school, Roger Barrett, who later gained the nickname Syd. Gilmour became re-acquainted with Barrett while they
were studying at the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology; both were interested in music and began learning to play guitar in their
spare time, as did Barrett's friend Roger Waters.

In 1963, Gilmour joined a rock group, Jokers Wild, which specialized in R&B covers; in 1965, he and Barrett took the summer off and spent
several months busking and traveling through France, though the adventure didn't pay off financially. After returning to England, Gilmour
played with a group called Flowers for a while, as well as a revamped version of Jokers Wild called Bullitt; meanwhile, Barrett and Waters
teamed up with Rick Wright and Nick Mason to form a group called the Tea Set, which was later renamed Pink Floyd.

In 1967, Pink Floyd was the toast of London's burgeoning psychedelic scene on the strength of the singles "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily
Play," and the album Piper at the Gates Of Dawn. However, Barrett had become increasingly unstable, sometimes becoming catatonic
on-stage or playing different songs than his bandmates, and as his ability to perform was compromised, Gilmour was invited to join the
group to help with guitar and vocals when Barrett was having trouble. However, after a few shows it became evident that Gilmour's
presence wasn't enough to rescue Barrett, and the group's leader was let go as Gilmour became the band's new lead guitarist by default,
and he would produce and play on Barrett's two solo albums before he retired from music.

Gilmour made his recording debut with Pink Floyd on 1968's A Saucerful of Secrets, and over the next several years, the group's sound
evolved from pop-friendly psychedelic to ambitious progressive and experimental rock. Gilmour's guitar became a key part of Pink Floyd's
aural signature, and he played a larger role in the group's songwriting; their evolving approach culminated with 1973's The Dark Side of
the Moon, which became a massive international hit and firmly established them as one of the biggest British acts of the day. Pink Floyd's
success continued with 1975's Wish You Were Here, but as Waters began to dominate the group's songwriting and conceptualizing,
Gilmour began looking for other opportunities to express himself. He'd already made guest appearances on albums by Roy Harper and
Hawkwind, and during the recording of 1977's Animals, Gilmour began work on his first solo album, released in 1978 simply as David
Gilmour. In 1978, he also produced Kate Bush's debut album, The Kick Inside, and he contributed guitar work to Wings' 1979
release Back to the Egg. 1979's The Wall became another massive success for Pink Floyd, and Gilmour co-wrote the stand-out
track "Comfortably Numb," but tensions within the group grew during the recording of the album -- Rick Wright was fired during the
sessions -- and after the long sessions which produced 1983's The Final Cut, Pink Floyd briefly fell apart.

Following the band's splintering, Gilmour released his second solo album, 1984's About Face, and he lent his talents as a guitarist to a
number of projects, including albums by Paul McCartney, Bryan Ferry, Pete Townshend, and Supertramp, and produced the debut album for
the Dream Academy. Waters made his solo debut with 1984's The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, and he filed a lawsuit to dissolve the
Pink Floyd's legal partnership. However, the court found in favor of Gilmour and Nick Mason, and in 1987, Gilmour became Pink Floyd's new
leader and principal songwriter as he relaunched the band with the album A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Pink Floyd supported the
album with a successful extended tour -- their first since a small handful of elaborate shows following The Wall -- and a live album from
the shows, A Delicate Sound of Thunder, was released in 1988. After coming off the road, Gilmour stayed busy with session work,
making guest appearances with acts as diverse as Warren Zevon and Elton John, while writing material for the next Pink Floyd effort. While
a few new pieces appeared on 1992's La Carrera Panamerica, a video documenting Gilmour and Nick Mason's participation in an auto
race in Mexico (both collect vintage sports cars), Pink Floyd's next full album, The Division Bell, didn't appear until 1994. Once again, a
major international tour followed the new studio effort, and on many dates they performed The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety,
along with other material from their catalog; one such concert was documented on Pulse, a 1995 live album.

An archival album drawn from Pink Floyd's performances of The Wall in 1980 and 1981 appeared in 2000, but no new material
appeared. Gilmour reunited with Waters, Mason, and Wright for a one-off Pink Floyd performance at the 2005 Live 8 concert in London (a
benefit to promote solutions to global poverty), but the band turned down lucrative offers for a new tour, and in 2006, Gilmour told reporters
that Pink Floyd was not likely to record or perform again, saying "I have had a wonderful time, but it's over. For me, it's much less
complicated to work alone."

Gilmour performed a critically lauded series of acoustic shows in London in 2002, and in 2006 he released a new solo album, On an
Island. The album was followed with a major concert tour; Gilmour's London concert was videotaped fora 2007 DVD release,
Remember That Night: Live at the Royal Albert Hall, while a show at the Gdansk shipyards with a full orchestra appeared on the 2008
album Live in Gdansk. In 2010, Gilmour teamed up with acclaimed ambient electronic act the Orb for Metallic Spheres, a
collaborative album.

In 2012, Gilmour and Nick Mason decided to revisit some older recordings they had made with Richard Wright, who had passed away from
cancer in 2008. This ultimately led to the release of the final Pink Floyd studio album, The Endless River, in July of 2014. The following
year, Gilmour released his fourth solo album, Rattle That Lock. He toured the U.K. and Europe in support of the album through the end
of 2015, and followed it up with a North American tour in early 2016. In late 2015, Gilmour was also the subject of David Gilmour: Wider
Horizons, a BBC Documentary.

When not busy with music, Gilmour devotes much of his time to charitable causes, and when he put his London home on the market in
2003, he donated the 3.6 million pounds realized from the sale to Crisis, a group benefiting the homeless. « hide